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Member since:06.03.2001
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Well, I’m writing this on New Years Eve, in the office, but totally bored as none of my customers are in their offices so I can’t phone them to chase them for their missing adverts…*sigh*
Anyway, my thoughts turned to holidays, like they do at times like this!!
In 2002 I went to Seville, Spain. I have traveled quite a bit but not really in Europe much so I didn’t know what to expect. Seville is a beautiful town – very unspoiled. If you’re looking for the ‘real Spain’ I suggest Seville and we went at an excellent time weatherwise – not too hot or cold.
We spent 5 days there in May 2002, at the Hotel San Gil – this is a 4 star hotel, where most of the rooms are suites, sadly we had one of the very few double rooms there.
They serve breakfast and ‘bar snacks’ I have put this in hyphens because the ‘snacks’ leave much to be desired to be honest, and as vegetarians our one and only choice was a ‘vegetable sandwich’ which was even less exotic than it sounded
– lettuce, tomato and cucumber…..
However, lack of snack availability aside, the hotel was very clean and tidy, set around a very Moroccan looking courtyard. There were loads of House Martins nesting in the surrounding trees, which awoke you with a regular cacophony of sound in the early mornings! Although, we were often up and about by then anyway, so it can’t have been too early!!
The Hotel San Gil boasts a rooftop pool terrace, with loungers and sun shades which was lovely, however the pool was very dirty looking, a real disappointment.
~*Out and about in Seville.*~
Seville is a busy little town. It has one bullring, which we steadfastly avoided. It has many restaurants and tapas bars as you would expect – most of which are very reasonably priced.
On our first day we walked along the river (Rio Guadalquivir) and over towards the site of the Expo exhibition, this was very sad. We learned later in the week; just how many thousands of pesetas had been spent on the area, which looked like it used to be fantastic. However it was all in disrepair, disarray and looked like a dirty ghost town – we wondered why they hadn’t continued to use it for something else? (Sounds like the Dome doesn’t it?!?!)
One day out was on an open topped bus guided tour around Seville, my partner and I prefer to find our own way around rather than be touristy, but we did both thoroughly enjoy this. The bus provides you with a head set and you plug in and choose your language. We spent the first few moments siting on the bus watching everyone else do exactly what we did – burn their bums!!! People bounded up the stairs – wearing shorts, found a seat, sat on it and immediately jumped back in the air – as the seats were so hot!! So take a shirt, beach towel (something) to cover the seat with won’t you!
The bus took us all around the town, and with the commentary, on the history etc it was good fun. It also helped us plan exactly where we wanted to revisit again later on our own to explore.
One such place was the Plaza de Espana, which was beautiful, with mosaics of all the Spanish provinces all around the square; they were beginning to restore some of it, however we couldn’t help feeling they had left it very late. I don’t think that they really think too much about the future (Expo, building restoration etc) and some areas looked very sad indeed.
Outside, Plaza de Espana we were accosted by some gypsy who pressed lavender into our hands and told us we would have ‘dos bambinos’ – Seville did seem quite plagued in some areas by street sellers but they did leave you alone if you ignored them (don’t make eye contact at all!!)
Opposite the plaza de Espana was Maria Luisa Park, where we had a most pleasant walk amongst all the greenery and flowers, even though there were many people there it felt very quiet and peaceful and I would recommend a visit.
Outside the park we hailed a horse and carriage, very romantic!! We rode around Seville, and could see much more of the town than on the bus as it could go down the more narrow streets. The guide spoke no English whatsoever but we got a gist of what he was on about at least!!!
Whilst on the horse and carriage ride we found Santa Cruz a small part of Seville, with narrower streets, all cobbled and really unspoiled. This is the place to come and eat in the evenings, it really awoke with the tapas bars and restaurants – some of which had entertainment, Flamenco dancers and the like.
As vegetarians (an I am allergic to dairy products) we found a certain amount of difficulty finding things to eat in Seville, especially as neither of us speak Spanish and pretty much all menus are mainly Spanish!! One evening whilst walking around Santa Cruz we saw a lovely little restaurant up a side street – I have no idea where it was or what it was called (sorry!)
We couldn’t read the Spanish menu and were about to wander away when the manager came out to us. We explained our predicament as he seated us on a small table outside. He asked what we couldn’t eat, what sort of flavours we liked and didn’t like etc (in a very odd Spanish/English conversation, I’m sure he didn’t understand all we said just as we didn’t understand all he said!!). However we had the most amazing meal, there were 4 courses in the end, he just kept bringing stuff out to us!! It worked for them too as passing tourists came to join us in the restaurant as they could see what a good time we were having!! He ended the evening with a packed house!!
My advice here is, if you’re stuck and can’t see anywhere that does your tastes in food or requirements – just ask! We were treated like royalty for it – and I’m sure the chef was just experimenting with us!!
Our time in Seville went all too quickly, as you may imagine, but we returned with photo’s and fond memories – especially of getting totally lost in the narrow maze that is Santa Cruz and walking It seemed) a million miles back to the hotel one afternoon, and flaking out on the bed in the cool room!!
I shall definitely return there one day and would recommend it (we’re off to Morocco in March so watch this space for a Marrakech op!!)
Helen
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I am really upset that you think Sevilla needs some government money. I am from Sevilla and we are very proud of our city.The beauty of it is that we do not have and do not need big buildings or big shopping malls to be the most beautiful city in the world. You should look at the history of Sevilla to fully appreciate the city.
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Advantages: Vibrant, lively, colourful, energetic, traditional dancing, friendly Disadvantages: Stays open to 7am! Party party party! (sore head in the morning!)
Elaina18 07.05.2006 ·
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Review of Sevilla (Spain)
![Global Treasures Seville Royal Fortress Real Palaces Of Seville Reales Alcazares De Sevilla Andalucia, Spain [DVD] [NTSC]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/88938730.jpg "Global Treasures Seville Royal Fortress Real Palaces Of Seville Reales Alcazares De Sevilla Andalucia, Spain [DVD] [NTSC]")
Dec 31st, 2002
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